Chapter 117 — Lab Recluse (4)
Chapter 117 — Lab Recluse (4)
"...It seems there's a problem."
"Yes."
The count, as if feeling fatigue again only after his stomach was full, blinked slowly.
"When a blessing is cast upon soil mixed with crystal powder, strangely enough, the mana reverts into the earth's power."
The count's tone was indifferent.
So Roan's surprise came a beat late.
"...Then, haven't you found a way to harness the crystal's power!"
Uncharacteristically, Roan exclaimed in admiration.
The count smiled faintly on his weary face.
"Ahaha... Yes... I've found a clue. If you bless the crystal and then grind it into powder, the mana reversion doesn't occur. But if you bless it after it's been made into powder, it works. However, as you might expect, there are several issues."
"What are they?"
Regret and irritation carried through Attentive Hearing.
Roan was a little surprised by his emotions.
The count's outward appearance seemed perfectly composed, after all.
"First. One of the raw materials needed to grind the crystal into powder is Powder of Silence. That is made by grinding the bark of a specific tree found in the Dark Forest."
"...Mm."
Roan's brow furrowed slightly.
He'd realized what the count was trying to say.
Harvesting materials inside the Dark Forest was not easy. Now, with relations between the forest elves and demonkind as poor as they were, it was even more difficult.
"Second. I've provisionally termed the process by which a blessing alters the crystal powder's properties 'activation,' but that activation is not permanent."
Roan's expression darkened further.
"According to my experiments, after about two years, the crystal powder returns to its original nature."
"Original... you mean."
"Yes. It regains the properties the crystal originally possessed."
Meaning it would begin to absorb the surrounding mana again.
Would everywhere this powder was scattered, as the count had remarked earlier, end up like dead lands after all?
"Initially, the soil fertility would seem to rise, but later, only land more devastated than before would remain. Unless, like humans, someone could regularly cast blessings on it. So this method is meaningless."
If this fact had been discovered only later, it might have been irreversible.
It was a truth learned only because of the count's tenacity, experimenting even a year or two into the future by using curses.
"...You've labored hard, Count. Thank you."
It had been grueling work,
and the result was just as empty.
That Helen had collapsed into sleep the moment one round of experiments ended—despondency must have been part of the reason.
And so, the count too was belatedly surprised by the praise he hadn't even expected.
"......Pardon?"
"Whether positive or negative, we should consider that merely learning something new is progress."
The emperor spoke in a gentle voice.
The count faced the emperor with his tired, double-lidded eyes opened wide.
"Such a... Mmnn."
It was tremendous insolence.
Other nobles might have jumped out of their seats if they'd seen it.
But Roan simply watched the count tilt his head without a word.
He was thinking that without him, even this discovery would have been difficult.
He hadn't expected anyone to experiment so meticulously as to even use Time Acceleration.
Though, as the Lord of the West Blood Territory had said, his standards of fun differed considerably from others, and that direction could be detached at times.
And though the count's underlying motive for throwing himself into this experiment was ultimately to gain observation rights and the right to experiment on Roan.
The count was devoting his whole enthusiasm to this experiment
and was striving to follow Roan's goal.
And so Roan was sincerely grateful to the count.
"So, Count, hurry at a reasonable pace."
"Your Majesty, but I absolutely wish to experiment on Your Majesty!"
The count's resolute words, even through half-closed eyes. Roan reflexively let out a sigh.
Tenacious.
It must be that very tenacity which made him such a skilled mage.
"Lack of sleep makes one's head worse. People's heads."
"Eeeh? But I'm sufficiently intelligent, so I'll be fine."
"The management of the flowerbeds will be left to my attendants."
"...What?! That is confidential!"
The count cried out in a slightly hoarse voice.
"I will give you the empty space in my conservatory. Once the experiments are done, leave the flowerbeds to the attendants, and you and Helen are to rest. Leave the nighttime observations to them. As long as the process of scattering the crystal powder is properly supervised, it will look to them like nothing more than the testing of simple divine magic or a new type of fertilizer."
"Mm... Yess..."
"And as I mentioned earlier, I'll also be monitoring your sleep and meals. Consider yourselves informed."
The count looked at the emperor with a sulky expression.
"...You sound just like my secretary."
"As long as there is work that only you can do, and as long as that work won't end overnight—do not rush."
Roan's voice began to carry on the wings of Appeal and Charisma.
At his words, which felt as though they were suddenly being delivered deep into his heart, the count's eyes glinted sharply.
"The years you must work under me are long, and the tasks you must accomplish are many. If your lifespan shortens because you skimp on a single day's sleep, the loss will be that much greater."
"..."
"If you do not obey, I will reduce your observation rights by one hour each time. Do it properly."
"Uugh... Under... stood. Your Majesty."
The count nodded, answering vacantly.
And from that day on, Roan's threat was actually put into effect.
"Coming all the way here from the lab is a nuisance."
"My lord needs exercise."
"Climbing up to the break platform is sufficient exercise, Helen."
Grumbling under Helen's scolding, the count traveled back and forth to the emperor's conservatory every day.
In the empty space created where the conservatory tearoom—where Roan used to drink tea with Grünent and Erenier—had been cleared out, soil airlifted from various regions and the count's magical apparatuses sat in a bleak scene.
'It's... a bit grim.'
And the Biting Flowers, growing sturdier under the sunlight than they had seemed before.
As if in fine condition, they continuously snapped their sharp teeth shut with clicking sounds.
"A blessing certainly has an effect, but... I alone cannot look after all this land..."
Helen spoke as she gazed at the flowerbed with a rueful look. Today's conservatory schedule had just finished.
The flowerbed bearing Helen's blessing was emitting a faint glow. It was a light similar to, yet much fainter than, the glow that came from the crystal when she blessed it.
A light discernible only to the count or Roan, who had witnessed the blessing from close by.
To someone who hadn't seen the process of Helen channeling holy power into the crystal—as in Roan's case—the crystal simply looked black.
Roan stared absently at the cheerfully menacing flowers and sank into thought.
"Is there no way to request priests from Merde or Arteala..."
"Hmm..."
Spros III would never accept such a request, and the Church of Laurecia likely already considered me their principal enemy.
Because I was the Demon King who had killed their knight-commander and corrupted their vice-commander.
Perhaps Arteala could be negotiated with.
But its population was far smaller than Merde's, and its priests would surely prioritize blessing their own land first.
It was a difficult problem.
Roan could only wear a wry smile.
"Um, Master."
Helen carefully spoke up.
"Then, may I go to the laboratory now?"
"Hm? Do you still have work left?"
"Yes. I've promised to assist with the experiments to find a substitute for the Powder of Silence."
By now, Helen seemed to have fully taken on the role of an assistant.
From the day Helen had first met the count, Roan had felt the two were oddly compatible.
Having a human whom the hermit-like count found even a little useful might prove helpful in executing his future plans.
"Make sure you don't overwork yourself. You, and the count too."
"Yes, Master."
At the emperor's concern, Helen smiled happily.
The conservatory was quiet after she left.
It was not yet time for the attendants to come tend to the flowerbeds.
Roan ran Detection once over the area,
then opened the sack Helen had left in a corner of the flowerbed.
It was a sack designed to be protected by holy power so that mana would not leak out or explode. A sack that could only be opened by someone able to handle holy power.
In Evirgio alone, it was perfect security.
Roan took out a little of the crystal powder from inside and examined it.
Finely ground, the crystal, to the naked eye, looked like lustrous black sand.
Roan's next action was, in truth, born of pure curiosity.
"Blessing of the Stars."
Roan had never once directly cast a blessing upon this crystal. Though he had shone Starlight onto a crystal before.
So Roan wanted to see whether the effect of his own blessing on this crystal powder might differ from Helen's.
Even if he couldn't yet show it to the count.
And at the dazzling light, Roan unconsciously scowled.
"No... wait a moment..."
The words slipped out of Roan's lips before he knew it. That was how startled he was.
Roan was at a loss.
'This is... even more intense than with Starlight.'
It exceeded what Roan had expected.
The crystal powder that had received Roan's Blessing of the Stars was emitting a light incomparable to Helen's.
The beautiful blue and violet hues it had shown as a crystal fractured and shimmered within Roan's hand.
"...Hmm..."
Despite his flustered state, Roan let out a small exclamation of admiration.
By training his holy power under Helen and formally learning divine magic, he'd learned that his own power and magic were a superior version of the divine magics that remained today.
But the difference was truly dramatic.
The crystal powder cupped in his hand was a tiny amount, yet it pulsed, darkening and brightening repeatedly in brilliant radiance.
How long had he been staring at it?
Just as the light began to wane.
Roan flinched in surprise and raised his head.
Someone caught by Detection was heading toward the conservatory.
'Damn. Did I spend too much time?'
With a troubled expression, Roan looked at the powder in his hand, then roughly shoved it into his pocket.
By now nearly gone of light, it had turned a transparent pale blue, just as the crystal that had received Roan's Starlight had done.
And then, the sound of padding footsteps could be heard.
The person Roan encountered was,
"Oh? Your Majesty? What brings you here?"
the count.
Roan's eyebrow twitched.
"You're the one who shouldn't be here. The conservatory and the laboratory are off-limits at this hour, aren't they?"
"Ah... Ahaha. I haven't come to work, regrettably."
The count glanced around near the flowerbed as if looking for something, then picked up a small object from the corner.
"I'd left something behind! It isn't work, Your Majesty! That won't cost me an hour of observation rights, will it?"
The count beamed as he smiled.
He certainly seemed to have regained some composure after several days of rest.
Roan nodded.
The thing the Lord of the North White Territory had picked up was a small necklace.
"Hm, is that an artifact?"
It was an oddly shaped necklace.
A form resembling a pictogram in the shape of an eye.
The count wore a great many artifacts to compensate for his lacking physical ability or for defense. Had he dropped one of them?
The count answered with a smile.
"Yes... It's an important protective charm of mine."
Having picked up the necklace and hung it, the count, standing beside Roan, shifted his gaze toward the Biting Flowers at which Roan had been looking.
"Were you observing the flowerbeds?"
"Mm. If these qualify as flowers, then yes."
"Aha, you mustn't discriminate."
One of the Biting Flowers at Roan's feet had lifted its flower part as high as it could, trying to bite Roan's finger. Roan lifted his hand away. The flower, its teeth failing to reach him, shook its stem as if aggrieved.
The count, watching the scene, let out an 'oh' sound.
"Hm?"
"Your Majesty. Why is your hand stained with something like that?"
Looking down at his hand, Roan flinched.
His hand was covered in a cloudy powder.
The crystal powder imbued with his own blessing still heavily coated his hand.
The count's eyes curved downward.
"I can feel mana. Your Majesty. What have you done?"